There’s no signal outdoors Mid-Century Miranda in downtown Azusa, nevertheless it’s simple to identify the not too long ago opened classic furnishings retailer from the road. A gleaming orange-and-white Brown Jordan patio set is seen by means of the home windows lengthy earlier than you enter. Step inside and also you’ll discover a turquoise blue midcentury sofa on a platform, a curving Dr. Seuss-style tree in a classic planter and a ’60s-era clear glass ice bucket formed like a cowboy hat.
By the look of the 1,400-square-foot store, it’s clear that Tony Miranda, who opened the Azusa retailer in March together with his son Anthony, is drawn to vivid and strange midcentury items. What is probably much less apparent is that the smiling, 58-year-old explaining the Australian provenance of a tropical simple chair is a retired police chief who served in Bell, Irwindale and, most not too long ago, Vernon.
Tony Miranda labored in legislation enforcement for 30 years earlier than opening Mid-Century Miranda.
“I was very blessed to be in law enforcement for 30 years,” he stated on a latest Friday, enjoyable on a pristine Italian sectional from the Seventies located on the entrance of the shop. “But this is refreshing.”
It’s actually a change of tempo. In his former profession as police chief, Miranda was liable for managing a $13- to $15-million finances, serving to poorly run departments stand up to hurry, overseeing inner investigations and offering public security within the midst of COVID-19 and rising civil unrest. Probably the most troublesome time in his profession was when he was tasked with rehabbing the Bell Police Division, the place he had served as captain, after an area authorities scandal involving the misappropriation of funds rocked town.
And but, he stated that as a classic furnishings vendor, he’s busier than he’s been in a decade, traversing town and state to choose up chaise lounges and sofas, eating tables and patio units, getting them refurbished and delivering them to clients.
“I’ll tell you, it’s more work than I ever did in recent memory because it’s like being the chief — everything starts and ends with me — but I don’t have lieutenants, I don’t have a secretary, I have to manage my own schedule,” he stated. “But I’m really enjoying it.”
Tony Miranda amongst among the furnishings he restored at his store in Azusa, Calif.
Miranda’s love affair with classic furnishings started in 2015, six years earlier than he left the drive. He and his spouse, who additionally labored in legislation enforcement, had simply purchased a condominium in Palm Springs and began to brighten in what they thought was midcentury model, most of which got here from Goal.
However as they spent extra time within the desert, they began to covet what he calls “the good stuff,” shopping for and accumulating extra genuine items.
“It’s like a virus,” Miranda stated. “I was bit. We kept switching things out and switching things out and next thing I know I have a garage full of stuff.”
A number of classic items bought at Tony Miranda’s store.
On a whim, he determined to see if he might promote among the classic glassware, dishes, chairs and tables he’d collected. He requested a buddy with a pickup to assist him haul what they may match to the Palm Springs Classic Market, and in a single afternoon he made $3,000. That was in 2016 and he’s been promoting month-to-month on the Palm Springs Classic Market and different locations ever since. When he opened the shop in Azusa, his midcentury interest formally grew to become a second profession.
“It really goes away from hobby when you are shopping for business insurance and insurance for your truck,” he stated. “It got real, real fast.”
Mid-Century Miranda is a household affair. Miranda’s spouse, who nonetheless works on the district lawyer’s workplace, helps him supply objects when she will be able to. His sister-in-law, niece, nephew and two daughters pitch in on the markets. And his youngest son, Anthony, 28, who went to FIDM after highschool earlier than working for a number of years as a cop in Palm Springs, is now working for the enterprise full-time.
Father and son don’t all the time see eye-to-eye. Tony likes to make choices organically; Anthony is extra strategic. However they are saying their views praise one another.
A number of the furnishings Tony Miranda restored at his store.
You’ll discover a vary of things and value factors on the new retailer. On a latest go to, I admired an unsigned piece of ’70s glazed pottery that was promoting for $25 and a Hans Wegner Papa Bear chair and foot stool newly reupholstered in leather-based that was promoting for $22,500. The Italian sectional that Tony was sitting on after we spoke had undulating seats in molded plastic, and was marked at round $9,000. The glass ice bucket formed like a hat was $90.
Patio furnishings, particularly Brown Jordan’s aluminum items with vinyl straps, is a particular ardour. Though there is just one set on show on the retailer, Miranda stated he has dozens of items stacked in his yard able to be sandblasted, powder-coated and restrapped in order that they give the impression of being good as new.
“You tell me what you’re looking for and I probably have it,” he stated.
Father and son say they’re nonetheless discovering precisely what’s going to work greatest of their retailer. It hasn’t all the time been simple up to now — the overhead of a brick-and-mortar retailer is new, they usually haven’t but developed the identical sized clientele they’ve in Palm Springs. However the elder Miranda stated that with lots of his former colleagues working in govt safety, he’s glad to have discovered one other path.
“It’s a completely different lens,” he stated. “No one is going to die if I drop a vase. ”
Tony Miranda together with his son, Anthony Miranda.
